Great Trees
Teacher Self-Guided Tour (SGT)
Grades 4-8
Welcome!
This tour is designed to offer suggestions and structure to your visit. You can go in any order, and please modify and add
activities to fit the needs and interests of your class. If your students get excited about a plant, a piece of sculpture, or
wildlife outside of the tour – go for it! The Morris Arboretum is a wonderful place with much to see and learn! Some of the
activities are easier if written out. Have students bring something to take notes on.
Garden Etiquette
• The most important rule is RESPECT – respect the trees and other plants, animals, and of course, people.
• Students are allowed off the paths, but they should not go into mulched areas. The mulch is there to protect delicate
plants and root systems.
• Students MAY NOT climb trees. This damages the bark, limbs, leaves, and disturbs creatures living in the trees.
• Eat and drink only in designated lunch areas.
• There are bathrooms in the garden, noted on the map, as well as in the Visitor Center.
• Have fun and learn about the beauty and importance of trees in our environment.
Tree Identification
On many of the trees, there are copper identification tags embossed with the common name of tree, the scientific name of
the tree, its place of origin, and the year it was accessioned (the year it was recorded into the collection – not necessarily the
year it was planted.) Find one and show students how to read them. Please DO NOT take these tags off the trees.
Common Name
Scientific Name
Plant Family Name
Origin / Natural Range
Accession Number
Year Accessioned -- # In Accession Year -- Group
Words, phrases, concepts to know before taking this tour:
environment
photosynthesis
extinction
evolutionary change
habit
habitat
generation
climate
broad leaf vs needles
conifer
deciduous vs evergreen
hardiness
pollination
Venn diagram
disease resistance
quarantine
native vs exotic species
invasive species
clone
99
88
77
5 44
5
66
33
Tour Sights and
Suggested Activities
#1 Bender Oak (Quercus x benderi)
This is one of the oldest trees in the Arboretum, being
around when George Washington was alive. George
Washington was born on February 22, 1732.
• Have your students calculate how old the tree is.
• Have students think of other living things that live for
more than 100 years. (giant sequoias in California; some
olive trees in Israel and Greece, the California bristlecone
pine trees can live for almost 5,000 years, giant Galapagos
turtles, and giant whale sharks, people!)
• Notice the wire running up its trunk. Have students
speculate on what this is for. (It is a lightning rod. This
is a huge tree standing atop a hill – a perfect spot for
lightning to strike. Check out the scar on the ginkgo
tree, probably the result of a lightning strike.)
Remember: For the safety of our visitors
and to preserve the structural integrity of
our trees, climbing or sitting on the limbs
of trees is not permitted. Thank you!
22
11
Visitor
Center
#2 Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba)
This type tree lived in North America during the Jurassic
(Dinosaur) Period and then was believed to have gone
extinct. However, it continued to live in China. Mr. John
Morris planted this one in the early 1900’s. Ginkgo trees
can thrive in polluted areas. Remind your students that
trees need carbon dioxide to make food and give off
oxygen as a by-product of the process.
• How do ginkgoes help the environment? (Trees take in
CO2 from the air and release O2, provide shade, hold
soil in place)
• There are male and female ginkgo trees. The females
produce a large, soft-coated, strong smelling seed.
Some people in Asian cultures consider the tree to
be sacred and the seeds to be a delicacy. The seeds
are extracted with a tweezer-like instrument and
then roasted over an open flame. Ask students where
they would plant ginkgoes?
• If leaves are on the ground, pick one up, feel the
texture, draw the shape of the leaf. Compare its
veins to those of leaves from other trees.
Weeping European Beech
#3 (Fagus sylvatica f. pendula)
Horticulturists call the general growth form of a tree, its
“habit.” This tree has a “weeping habit” because its branches
point downward. As the branches of the weeping beech
touch the ground, they take root. These can grow into new
trees, which would be a clonal colony since they come from
a single parent (asexual/vegetative reproduction).
• Ask students to explain the simile – downward branches
are like weeping? (A person cries when they are sad,
feeling down, often when we cry we look down, etc.)
• Create other similes using the habit of the tree as
the motivator – The upright habit is as straight as a
________/or is as tall and slender as a _______
Blue Atlas Cedar
#4 (Cedrus atlantica ‘Glauca’)
This is one of the few trees in the Arboretum that
originates in Africa. It comes from the Atlas Mountains in
northern Morocco. The habit of this tree is “spreading.”
• Why can this African tree live in the Morris Arboretum? (Since
it lives at a higher altitude in the mountains, the climate is
cooler and damper than many other parts of Africa. It can
tolerate the Philadelphia winters and rainy weather.)
• Have students draw the leaves and now look around the
area for another kind of evergreen. Have students find
out the name of this new tree by looking for the copper
tag and write the name in their notebook. Draw the leaf/
needle and compare to the blue Atlas cedar.
• Ask students why this tree is called “blue”? (Walk to the
Garden Railway entrance, look at the golden Atlas cedar
to your right then look at the blue Atlas cedar to your
left. The color difference is subtle.)
Edith Bogue Southern Magnolia
#5 (Magnolia grandiflora ‘Edith Bogue’)
This plant is named for Edith Bogue, whose magnolia
survived a harsh New Jersey winter. Normally, the
southern magnolia cannot tolerate the cold of the
Mid-Atlantic states. Researchers at the Arboretum
are working on developing hardier magnolias that can
tolerate cold. This tree is a broad-leafed evergreen.
• Ask students why scientists work to stretch the range
of some plants? (Changing climate. Increasing food
plant productivity.)
• Why is it important to have beautiful plants in the
environment?
• Many plants are named after famous people. This is
particularly true of roses: Mozart, Elvis Presley, Leeann
Rimes, Laura Bush, Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy,
Amelia Earhart, William Shakespeare, Queen Elizabeth,
and Pope John Paul II have had roses named after them.
What famous person would students nominate to have a
rose or another plant named after them? And why?
Katsura-tree
#6 (Cercidiphyllum japonicum)
The Morris’s planted this tree in 1902. Its native range
is Japan and China. In the fall, the leaves turn a golden
yellow and the decaying leaves emit an odor like cotton
candy. This is perhaps the largest katsura-tree in North
America. Katsuras, like ginkgoes, have male and female
trees. This tree is a male and there is a smaller female
tree on another part of the property.
• Have students look at the shape of the leaves.
What does it remind you of? (a heart, a triangle, etc.)
• How do the flowers of plants that are far apart get
pollinated?
• Using the letters K-A-T-S-U-R-A, work in pairs to create
phrases about this tree.
K -- Kites would get caught in its wide branches
A -- Awesome old age
T -- Tremendous width
S -- Smells sweet sometimes
U -- Under the tree is cool
R -- Rough bark
A – Asian origin
#7 Lacebark Pine (Pinus bungeana)
This tree is also native to China, like the katsura. This tree
has exfoliating bark, which means that the tree naturally
sheds its bark (or you say its bark peels away). Even
though it is inviting, please ensure students do not peel
the bark off the tree. This will hurt the tree.
• Have students describe the colors of the bark in their
notebooks.
Continued on next page)
• Then have them go to a nearby tree. Have students find
the copper identification tag and write the name of the
tree in their notebooks. Have them describe the bark of
that tree in the notebook.
• Working in pairs, have students create a Venn Diagram,
noting differences and similarities.
#8 Chinese Elm (Ulmus parvifolia)
This is another tree that is native to China, like the
lacebark pine and the katsura. This specimen is one of the
largest Chinese elms in Pennsylvania. It is an important
tree because it is resistant to Dutch elm disease, a fungus
that is spread by elm bark beetles.
In the 1800’s and 1900’s, people planted elm trees along
the city streets for their beauty and shade. In 1967, a deadly
strain of the fungus came to the US from Great Britain. The
disease spread through the country, killing millions of these
beautiful trees. Scientists have spent decades developing a
Dutch elm disease-resistant American elm by breeding them
with Chinese elms. However, the scientists have found that
Chinese elms thrive in our environment and have become
invasive in many places.
• Ask students if introducing the Chinese elm a positive
or negative action.
• Ask students what was learned from this story? (Planting
many kinds of trees instead of just one reduces the loss
if a disease strikes. We won’t lose all the trees – and their
benefits of shade, soil retention, flood control, putting
out oxygen and taking in carbon dioxide.)
• The US Customs Service has strict laws about importing
plants into the country, so dangerous fungi, insects,
and bacteria do not enter the country. Importers need
special permission to bring in plants, and the plants are
quarantined to insure they harbor no dangerous organism.
Dawn Redwood
#9 (Metasequoia glyptostroboides)
This is a deciduous conifer, related to the giant redwoods in
California. Although this genus (Metasequoia) lived in North
America during the Upper Cretaceous Period, they died out.
Scientists assumed they were extinct until a botanist found a
grove of the trees on a mountain side in China in1941. Seeds
were collected and the Arboretum received some in 1947 for
planting. The trees from these original seeds can be found
beyond the Rose Garden and to the right of the Swan Pond.
• Are there other plants living today that also lived during
the Age of Dinosaurs? (ferns, ginkgoes, etc.)
• Deciduous conifers lose their needles (are not
evergreen). There are 3 types of deciduous conifers
at the Arboretum; larch and bald cypress are the other
two. Find the bald cypress beside the Swan Pond.
Challenge Questions
Back in the classroom, students can continue to
research and think about these questions.
• Dutch elm disease decimated American elm trees
all over the US. Presently the wooly adelgid is
destroying Canada hemlocks in the Northeastern
part of the country. What is a wooly adelgid? How
does it destroy trees? What are scientists doing to
save the trees?
• What is an invasive species? What are natural
predator cycles and how could this cycle be
disturbed by invasive species?
• Cooks are now harvesting invasive species for
food. Research one invasive plant and one invasive
animal currently being served in restaurants.
• What are the characteristics of deciduous and
evergreens trees? How might a tree benefit
from not having all its leaves drop at the same
time. Name a deciduous broad-leafed tree, an
evergreen broad-leafed tree, an evergreen conifer
and a deciduous conifer.
• Investigate the laws governing what plants and
animals are allowed into the US from other
countries. How successful is the USDA-APHIS in
keeping out harmful pathogens, insects, etc.?
• Investigate photosynthesis. How efficient is
photosynthesis? Can plants store the energy
produced in the process? Consider what life on
earth might be like if plants were more efficient in
capturing light energy to produce more tissue.
• Investigate bioengineering: how scientists utilize
aspects of plants to make products for daily use.
• Research plant life during the Jurassic or
Cretaceous Period.
• Where are the Atlas Mountains and what other
plants and animals live there?